On the 26th I went to Amano Hashidate with Robert and Kaj.
Amano Hisidate is one of the Nihon Sankai. The top 3.
Amano Hashidate belongs to the top 3 views in Japan. They are not rated 1-3 but just as best 3.
I have visited Miyajima, another of the top 3, 2 years ago. This small island in the bay of Hiroshima has the famous Torii in the sea (Temple gate). It also sports some imperial, thus holy, dear that you are allowed to feed special biscuits. You are not allowed to harm them though. The island is very busy from 8 till 17:00 so I took myself and my camera there past 17:00 to be able to take all the pictures I wanted in all quietness. If you were, like me, based in Osaka, around 19:08 the last train leaves from Miyajima-guchi.
Last year in August, Mischel and I went to Mishima. Not only is there a bridge to a chalk island, but… there are over a 1000 small rock formations made up of chalk-rock. That’s where the place gets it’s name from.
Mishima was quite forgettable. It did absolutely nothing for me. More beautiful formations can be found in Greece, Turkey or even the UK (Isle of Wight). Miyajima however, was quite beautiful.
So, with mixed anticipation I went to Amano Hashidate two days ago. According to Lonely Planet a 1inch half-page column is more then enough to describe it. Rough Guide takes 2-3 pages. I tend to agree with Rough guide a lot more then LP. LP is written by and for impatient Americans that rather see the venom in things then the beauty. Rough Guide sometimes gets carried away so they come over like backpacking hippies stuck in the sixties. In the end both guides gave me no clue whatsoever as to what to expect. Total crap? Almost heavenly experience?
Well, after having been there, I can report the following:
- It might come over a bit disappointing if you’re expecting huge unkempt nature with canyons and desert etc.
- The water and the beach are among the cleanest most beautiful in Japan I have seen in my 12 visits.
- The sandbar it’s self is a nice change from urban encroachment. Of course, it’s clean like we’re used to here in Japan. However, some of the trees and looking at the construction cars, even more will have to make place for bits of concrete for the tired Japanese to take shelter in against the sun or rain. This really is a pity as I loved the care taken with supporting trees that have become to heavy to stand upright in the loose and shallow ground.
Supported trees
- The view from the top of the surrounding mountain is great! The cable car going up the mountain was OK but rather old. The lift with open seats without any support, running parallel to the cable car looked dinky and you couldn’t have gotten me in there with a shotgun against my head.
On with the rest.
When having walked the short 3.6km trip across the sandbar, you arrive at a street with housing right against it. A bit of a disillusion, as you thought you were in a nice nature preserve for a short while. A quay runs along the inner-bay and gets continuously hit by waves from the choppy waters. Strange enough, the water on the sea-side of Amano-Hashidate was so calm it was almost still.
Choppy waters
Well, after walking along the quay for a short stretch, we walked along the streets towards the cable car you could see going up the mountain. On our way there, we came past a nice looking temple. I was thinking of what to buy for my nephews, as I am their only uncle and thus should spoil them rotten. Then I came upon the temple shop. I decided to buy them traditional munk’s hats. Those conical things from woven rice leaves. Figuring it would be a pain to drag them along the entire time, I decided to buy them on the way down.
Munk’s hats
As we reached the cable car and lift, I was tempted not to go up the mountain, because, at that time, I had only seen the chair lift and not the cable car. Since you will only catch me in a chair lift when I am dead, I almost wished Kaj and Robert a nice time on top. But then… Yay! A cable car! So, I could visit the top too!
Cable car and lift
So Aiming for the top, up we went! The view was spectacular! Flabbergasted is the wrong word for it. So let’s not use that. The view was great. Yes, I do have to agree with the Japanese on two of the tree best views of Japan. An additional thing you can do there, besides eating roasted squid and buying souvenirs, is throw mini clay-pidgeons at an iron ring. 3 pieces for 100 yen. If you throw them all through the ring, it’s supposed to bring you luck! With my aim, I didn’t even try ^^;;
View of Amano Hashidate
We tried a Sofuto cureemu (softice) on the top before going back. On the way up, Kaj and Robert had to wait for me, because the Cable Car only runs every 15 minutes. While the chair lift, of course, runs continuously. However, the cable car is faster and I got in the cable car, the same time they got in their chairs. So I was down faster! I have some video footage of the climb down.
Birds of prey. Do you know what they are?
After having picked up the two hats, we proceeded to the ferry terminal to take the easy route back instead of crossing the sandbar yet again. It was so cool we did that, because two girls of about 4 were throwing small bits of cookie into the water behind the ferry. This attracted the seagulls so I rummaged around in my backpack, finding an old Melon Pan. I gave this to the girls who dug into it whit gusto, throwing chunks of it overboard, attracting a beautiful bird of prey. According to Rene’s comment in Kaj’s blog it may be a sea eagle (Osprey) but those have much more white. They were beautiful birds. That’s all I know for sure. If you can point out what they are, let me know.
After returning to Osaka by a direct Express train, we went into Yodobashi Umeda. Visiting the restaurant floor there, we dined on Shabu Shabu for about an hour of the alloted 90mins. all you can eat feast.
This set us back 2750 yen each. Quite cheap for Shabu Shabu. We went home after that and went to sleep. Except that I wanted to finish the new Hollows book by Kim Harrisson. It kept me up till 4am and irritated because still nothing much has been resolved after finishing the book. Tomorrow, we’re visiting Ken-rokuen, one of the 3 most beautiful gardens in Kanazawa.
I’ll write that up this evening. Now, I’m going out for a bit.
But before I go…. “Gelukkig hebben we de foto’s nog…”
Most of these were taken by Kaj with my Camera, seeing as he forgot his and it gave me the opportunity to film stuff instead.
Bridge to Amano Hashidate, it can turn on an axle to let ships pass into the harbour
Highspeed roudtrip boats
Dried Fugu (Blowfish) on a rack.
Freshly caught squid and octopus
